The Henson Journals

[7]

Tuesday, June 3rd, 1919.

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After an early lunch I motored to Bishop's Castle (44 miles) and there confirmed 29 persons in the parish church. I got back to the Cathedral about 7 p.m. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners write to inform me that they approve the severance of the Worcestershire portions of my diocese, & their inclusion in the new diocese of Worcester.

The Bishop of Peterborough has a "rejoinder" to my last letter. He admits the general ignorance of the public on the subject of the Enabling Bill, but pleads that this ought not to hinder its passing, because other matters have been dealt with by Parliament during the War when the public, absorbed by the pressing anxieties of the moment, could have had no adequate knowledge of the matter in question. I dashed off a brief reply in which I pointed out that the suggested parallel was quite worthless for there was no such urgency about the Enabling Bill as could fairly be pleaded in the other cases. But it is no use arguing, for the issues really lie in quite another sphere than that in which argument has relevance. The inner dissidence of the Church of England – a dissidence which goes back to the Reformation, & there uttered itself as a conflict between the Aye and No of that great experience – is reaching a measure of acuteness which defies composition, and can only end in Disestablishment and Disruption.

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